Laila Biali

Laila Biali (born 3 October 1980) is a Canadian jazz singer and pianist. She has been nominated for and won a Juno Award and has worked with Chris Botti and Sting.

Career Born in Vancouver, Biali began playing piano at a young age. She studied classical piano for many years. At the Royal Conservatory of Music she was attracted to jazz, and when she was nineteen she entered Humber College in Toronto. Four years later she released the album Introducing the Laila Biali Trio.

She moved to New York City and found work as a pianist and vocalist for other musicians. While touring with Paula Cole, she met drummer Ben Wittman, and she and Wittman later married. In 2009 she sang background vocals for Sting's DVD A Winter's Night: Live from Durham Cathedral. She toured with Chris Botti and Suzanne Vega. She has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto.

Her second album, Tracing Light (2010), received a Juno Award nomination.

Awards and honours CBC Galaxie Prize, Rising Star Award, National Jazz Awards Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada Keyboardist of the Year and Composer of the Year, National Jazz Awards

Discography Introducing the Laila Biali Trio (self-released, 2003) Laila Live (CBC, 2006) From Sea to Sky (CBC, 2007) Tracing Light (self-released, 2010) Live in Concert (self-released, 2012) House of Many Rooms (self-released, 2014) Laila Biali (ACT, 2018) Out of Dust (ACT, 2020) Your Requests (ACT, 2023) Wintersongs (2026)